Press for forming tablets



Feb. 18, 1941. V A a KUX 2,232,180

PRESS FOR FORMING TABLETS 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Feb. 18, 1941. A. s ux PRESS FOR FORMING TABLETS Filed Aug. 25, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 18, 1941. A. s KUX 2,232,180

PRESS FOR FORMING TABLETS Filed Aug. 25, 1938 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 v W5 Wig M a W A/w a 3 9 M v fmv y 6 0 a a 11 0 a a a 6 8 g V 2 v ii... 1 1 1 s s j 7 BA v 0 y 6 a 6 7 2 3 mm 2 g 3 5% a w Patented Feb. 18, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in presses particularly adapted though not necessarily limited in use for compressing or forming tablets from granular or powdered material and one of the objects of the invention is to provide in a press of this character improved means whereby a period of dwell will be obtained in the pressing elements, thereby enabling the ma-' terial to become set before the elements areseparated to permit the finished article or product to be ejected from the machine.

A further object is to provide improved means for agitating certain of the parts to insure not only a uniform supply but an equal distribution of the material in the shaping or forming chamber.

A further object is to provide improved means whereby a lost motion will be produced between certain of the parts at predetermined times in the cycle of operation of the machine.

To the attainment of these ends and the accomplishment of other new and useful objects as will appear, the invention consists in the features of novelty in substantially the construction, combination and arrangement of the several parts hereinafter more fully described and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawings illustrating this invention, and in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine of this character constructed in accordance with the principles of this invention.

Figure 2 is a View in elevation, taken from the lefthand side of Figure 1, with parts broken away and with parts in section.

Figure 3 is a right hand end elevation of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view of a portion of the press, with parts omitted, parts in elevation and parts broken away, showing the position the parts will assume when the material is being compressed in the forming chamber.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4, with parts omitted and showing the parts in a different position.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the numeral l designates generally a supporting frame or structure of any desired size and configuration and supported by means of a. base The frame is provided with an upright portion l2 and a bed |3 in'which bed is arranged a forming chamber M preferably produced by means of suitable dies l seated within a recess I6 in the bed l3 and held in position by means of suitable pins or dowels l1.

flhenumeral I 8 designates a slide reciprocable in suitable guides I 9 carried by the upright portion |;2 of the frame.

The slide may be of any suitable construction and is provided with an opening 20 therein in which is arranged a block or member 2|. An eccentric 22 provided with bearings 23 is journaled in the block 2| and the periphery of the eccentric is provided with gear teeth 24 that are engaged by a worm 25 on a shaft 26 which latter is provided with an operating handle 21.

Links 28 are pivotally connected to the block or member 24 preferably by means of the bearings 2'3, and the other ends of the links 28 are pivotally connected as at 29 to an arm 30 of a bell crank lever 3|. The lever 3| is pivotally mounted between its ends upon a pin 32 supported by the frame l2 and a bearing 33 is oscillatably supported by the other arm of the bell crank lever. The bearing 33 is provided with an opening therethrough and. passing through this opening is a member 35 which is provided with threads 36 at one end of the reception of anut or collar 31. The other end of the member 35 is threaded as at 38 and a nut or collar 39 is threaded upon this end of the member 35 on the side of the bearing 33 opposite to the side on which the nut or collar 31 is disposed.

These nuts or collars 31- 39 form spaced abutments and the distance between these abutments is substantially greater than the diameter of the bearing 33 so that the member 35 may be moved freely through the bearing 33 and when one of the nuts or collars 3'|39 is in engagement with the bearing the other will be out of engagement therewith.

With this construction it will be manifest that when the member 35 is moved lengthwise of its axis one of the nuts or collars 3l-39 will contact a bearing to rock the lever 3| about its pivot 32 to move the slide I8 in one direction. At this time the other nut or collar 3l39 will move out of engagement with the bearing 33. When the member 35 is moved in the opposite direction lengthwise of its axis the other collar 3'|39 will engage the bearing 33 and rock the lever 3| in the opposite direction about its pivot 32.

It will therefore be seen that the member 35 when reciprocated lengthwise of its axis will rock the bell crank lever 3| about its pivot 32 to reciprocate the slide l8 and that by reason of the spacing of the collars 3'|39 there will be a lost movement between the member 35 and the lever 3| which will produce in the slide |8 a period of dwell in the operation of the machine, and which period of dwell is controlled by the distance between the nuts or collars 3I39.

This member 35 forms an extension between the actuator 40 and may be a part of or separate from the actuator.

In the present exemplification of the invention the member 35 is separate from the actuator 40 and is connected thereto by having one of its ends engaging threads in a threaded recess 4! in the actuator. A lock nut or collar 42 may be provided if desired.

The actuator is operated by means of an eccentric 43 connected to a shaft 44, the actuator 49 preferably forming a part of the eccentric strap or member 45.

Connected to and depending from the slide 13 is a compressing element or punch 45, the lower face 4'! of which constitutes a die. This element 45 is secured to the slide i8 in any suitable manner, and is preferably provided with a head 48 fitting in a groove or recess 49 in the slide l8, and the element passes into a head and is secured by a suitable fastening device 59.

The block 2| is held in the slide preferably by means of clamping bolts 5| for drawing together portions 52 of the slide.

Mounted below the bed l3 and reciprocable in guides 53 is a lower slide 54 which is provided with a seat 55 in the upper face thereof to receive a supporting block 55 held by a clamp element 55 for supporting a lower punch or compressing element 5?, the end 58 of which latter also operates to compress the material. The element 5? may be held in position with respect to the slide 54 in any suitable manner such as by means of a member 59 having a seat 59 to receive a head 51 Carried by the slide 54 are split arms or members 606| which are spaced from each other in directions lengthwise of the slide. Adjustable members B263 are respectively carried by the arms Gil-5| and the adjacent ends of these members are spaced from each other to receive therebetween the end 64 which may be of any desired configuration of an arm 65 of another bell crank lever 66. The members 5263 are respectively held in their adjusted positions by clamping bolts or members Gil-58.

When the bell crank lever 66 is rocked about its pivot 69 reciprocation will be imparted to the lower slide 54 and this motion may be given to the lever in any desired or suitable manner preferably by means of a cam groove in a gear 19 carried by the shaft 44, and in which cam groove a roller H carried by an arm 12 of the bell crank lever operates.

Thus it will be seen that when the shaft 44 is rotated the bell crank levers 3| and 66 will be rocked about their pivots and reciprocatory movements will be imparted to the compressing elements 46-51 which latter operate in directions toward and away from each other in. the forming chamber I4.

Should it be desired to adjust the element 45 with respect to the slide i8, this may be accomplished by actuating the shaft 26 to rotate the eccentric 22.

The material to be compressed is supplied from any suitable source such as a hopper 13 having a. discharge outlet 14 and to which outlet is rotatably secured a chute or pipe 15, the latter being provided with a'discharge outlet 16 in its lower face, and this face is adapted to be moved over the surface of the bed l3 until the opening is brought intoregister with the forming chamber l4. This occurs when the elements 46 and 51 are separated from each other and are withdrawn from the chamber l4.

The chute 15 is provided with a bearing H which rests upon the bed [3 and. is rotatably secured thereto by means of a pivot bolt or fastening device 18.

A rod or member 19 is pivotally connected by one end as at 89 to the bearing 11 and is also pivotally connected as at 81 to a lever 82. If desired, the rod 79 may be in sections and an adjusting collar 83 may be provided for adjusting the sections with respect to each other. The lever 92 is pivotally supported at its other end as at 84 to a stationary port of the frame, and carried by the lever is a roller 95 which operates in a groove 85 in a member 81 that is secured to the shaft 44 for rotation therewith. The walls of the groove at predetermined portions throughout their length are provided with corrugations or undulations 89 so that when the roller 85 contacts this corrugated or undulated portion a vibratory movement will be imparted to the lever 82 and this will agitate the chute or spout I5 for the purpose of uniformly distributing or delivering the material into the forming chamber M.

The shaft 44 may be rotated in any desired or suitable manner and from any suitable source of power, suflice it to say that there is provided a pulley 89 over which a belt passes.

Connected to the shaft of the pulley is a gear 99 which meshes with a gear 9| secured to a shaft 92. Carried also by the shaft 92 is a gear 93 which meshes with the gear I0. Thus it will be seen that upon rotation of the shaft 44 the compressing elements 4651 will be reciprocated towards and away from each other and when these elements are separated the discharge outlet 76 of the chute or spout 15 will be positioned to discharge the material into the forming chamber l 4. During the delivery of the material the chute or spout 15 is agitated. The spout is then moved into an inoperative position, that is, so that the material will not be delivered into the chamber l4 and while it is thus being moved over the sur- I face of the bed I3 the outlet 16 will be closed by the surface of the bed.

The compressor elements 465'I are then moved towards each other so as to compress the material in the forming chamber. During the compressing operation there will be produced in the slide I8 and the element t6 an extended period of dwell to permit the material being compressed, to set. This period of dwell is produced by the nuts or collars 3l39 cooperating with the bearf ing 33.

After the material has been compressed or rather when the elements 4651 have reached the limit of their movement towards each other, and in order to exert an extra compression upon the material in the chamber M, the element 5'! and consequently the slide 54 will be given an additional movement beyond the limit of the stroke which is imparted thereto by the bell crank lever 66. provided a lever 94 which is pivotally supported as at 95 upon a portion of the frame. A portion 96 of this lever 94 is disposed below the element 93. The other end 91 of the lever 94 is disposed adjacent a cam 98 carried by the periphery of the member 8'! that contains the groove 86 in which the roller 85 carried by the lever 82 operates.

The cam98 is so positioned'that after the slide 54 has reached the limit of its -move'ment under "th'e'influen'ce of the bell crank lever 66, it'will For that purpose there may be I a or engage the end 91 of the lever 94 to swing the lever and thereby impart an additional or further movement to the slide 54 and the compressor element 51.

As a means for ejectingithe completed article from the forming chamber I4 there may be provided a sleeve or ejector 99v which encompasses the element 51 and also projects into the forming chamber I4.

The sleeve may be provided with a head I having a groove IOI therein, and in which groove a ring I02 operates. Connected to the ring is one end of a lever I63 which latter is pivotally supported as at I04 and the free end I05 of the lever projects between two tappets or abutments I06-I0l adjustably carried by a rod I08. This rod is supported by an arm or bracket I09 that is fixed to a stationary part of the frame and is adjustably secured to the arm by passing therethrough with nuts or collars H0 engaging the rod on opposite sides of the arm. This construction will maintain the arm I09 and the rod I08 stationary so that when the slide 54 israised the lever I93 will be bodily raised therewith until the end I05 of the lever contacts the stop or abutment I05. A further movement of the slide 54 in the same direction will then cause the lever I03 to rock about the pivot I04 and thereby raise the sleeve 90 from the position shown in Figure 4 to the position shown in Figure 5, thereby ejecting the finished product III. 1

If desired, and in order to form the product III with a hole or aperture II2 extending therethrough, there may be provided a rod II3 which is secured by one end as at II4 to the arm or bracket I09. This rod projects through the compressor element 51 and is maintained stationary, so that as the compressor element 51 is reciprocated the rod I I3 will move therethrough,

When the compressor element 51 is in its lowermost position, as shown in Figure 4, its upper extremity will project beyond the end of the compressor element 51 and the material fed into the forming chamber I4 will be distributed around the end of the rod.

Thus it will be seen that when the article is completed the aperture II2 will be formed.

If it is desired to manufacture the product without the aperture II2, the element 51 having an opening therethrough and the rod II3 may be removed from the machine and another element without the opening therethrough may be substituted in lieu thereof.

The bed I3 may be provided with an inclined or chute portion I3a to receive the article when it is ejected from the forming chamber and convey it away from the machine. A portion of the chute or spout I5 serves as a means for moving the finished article oiT of the bed and into the chute I311.

While the preferred form of the invention has I been herein shown and described, it is to be understood that various changes may be made in the details of construction and in the combination and ararngement of the several parts within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit of this invention.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a machine for compressing material into tablet form, a forming chamber, compressing elements, bell crank levers individual to the elements for moving them in said chamber in directions towards and away from each other, means for delivering into the chamber and between said elements, the material to be compressed, means for producing in one of said elements an extended period of dwell at the limit of the stroke of said element in one direction,

slidable through said bearing, spaced abutments on said actuator on opposite sides of said bearing, and means for actuating the other of said bell crank levers.

2. In a machine for compressing material into tablet form, a forming chamber, compressing elements movable in said chamber in directions towards and away from each other, means for delivering into the chamber and between said elements, the material to be compressed, actuating means for the elements embodying bell crank leverindividual to the elements, and motion imparting means for the levers, means for producing in one of said elements an extended period of dwell at the limit of its stroke in one direction, the last recited means embodying a loose and sliding connection between one of said levers and its actuating means, and spaced abutments carried by said actuating means and between which abutments a portion of the said lever operates.

3. In a-machine for forming tablets from powdered material, a forming chamber, compressing elements movable in said chamber in directions towards and away from each other, means for delivering into the chamber and between said elements the material to be compressed, a pivotally mounted member connected to one of said elements for reciprocating it, an f actuating member, a loose connection between said actuating member and said pivotally mounted member, said connection embodying a bearing pivotally supported by said pivotally mounted member and through which bearing a portion of said actuating member freely slides, an abutment on said portion of the actuating member on each side of and spaced from said bearing, whereby an extended period of dwell will be produced in the last said element, means for operating said actuating member, means for actuating the other of said elements, and means for ejecting the compressed tablet from said chamber.

4. In a machine for forming tablets from powdered material, a forming chamber, compressing elements, means for delivering into the chamber and between said elements the material to be compressed, a pivotally mounted lever, an operative connection between said lever and one of said elements for reciprocating the latter, an actuator, eccentric means for operating said actuator, an eccentric strap, an extension at the end of said strap, a pivotally mounted bearing on said lever through which said extension freely slides, abutments on said extension on opposite sides of and spaced from said bearing, whereby to swing said lever about its pivot and produce in the said reciprocating element a period of dwell at the limit of the stroke of the latter, and means for rotating said eccentric.

5. In a machine for forming tablets from powdered material, a forming chamber, compressing elements, means for delivering into the chamber and between said elements the material to be compressed, a leverpivotally mounted between its ends, a connection between said lever and one of said elements for reciprocating the latter, an actuator, a loose connection between said lever and said actuator, said connection embodying a pivotally mounted bearing on one of the parts,

a portion of the other part loosely passing through said bearing, adjustable abutments on the said other part on opposite sides of the bearing and spaced from each other a distance considerably greater than the width of the said bearing, said abutments adapted to be moved into and out of engagement with said bearing upon operation of said actuator, whereby to swing said lever about its pivotal support, and means for operating said actuator.

6. In a machine for forming tablets from powdered material, a forming chamber, compressing elements, means for delivering into the chamber and between said elements the material to be compressed, a lever pivotally mounted between its ends, a connection between said lever and one of said elements for reciprocating the latter, an actuator, a loose connection between said lever and said actuator, said connection embodying a pivotally mounted bearing on one of the parts, a portion of the other part loosely passing through said bearing, adjustable abutments on the said other part on opposite sides of the bearing and spaced from each other a distance considerably greater than the width of the said bearing, said abutments adapted to be moved into and out of engagement with said bearing upon operation of said actuator, whereby to swing said lever about its pivotal support, means for operating said actuator, means for Varying the position of the reciprocable element with respect to the said lever, while the extent of movement of the element with respect to the lever remains constant, the last recited means embodying eccentric connection between the said lever and said element, and means for rotatably adjusting the eccentric.

7. In a machine for forming tablets from powdered material, a forming chamber, reciprocable compressing elements operating in the chamber in directions towards and away from each other, means for delivering into the chamber and between said elements the material to be compressed, levers individual to the elements for reciprocating them, a connection between each of the said levers and the respective said elements, an actuator, a sliding and loose connection between said actuator and one of said'levers whereby to produce in the element to which the last said lever is connected, a period of dwell, the last said connection embodying a bearing pivotally mounted upon the'lever, a portion of the actuator loosely sliding through the bearing, and spaced abutments on said portion of the actuator on opposite sides of and spaced from the bearing, means for operating said actuator, means for actuating the last said lever, an additional lever also operable on one of said compressing elements, and means for actuating the last said lever to impart a further compressing movement to the last said compressing element after it has reached the limit of its movement by its other operating lever.

8. A machine for compressing material into a form sustaining shape embodying a chamber comprising elements reciprocable in the chamber in directions towards and away from each other, means individual to the elements for respectively reciprocating them, means for operating one of the elements to partially compress the material into a form sustaining shape from one side thereof, and means for operating the other of the said elements for imparting an additional compression to the material from the opposite side thereof, each of the said elements having a period of dwell in their operation during a predetermined portion of the cycle of operation 01' the other of said elements.

ALBERT S. KUX. 

